1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image formation apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, printer, or photocopier, having a paper feed cassette, and to a paper feed cassette for use with such an image formation apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 17A and 17B show a top view and a front view, respectively, of a conventional facsimile machine. The facsimile machine has a body 1, and in a central side portion of the body 1 is provided a power supply section 13. In an upper portion of the body 1 are provided an operation section 3 for performing transmission and other operations and an original document placement section 2 for placing a document to be transmitted. The information written or drawn on the original document is read by a reader section 5. Then, the information thus read is transmitted, and the original document is fed out in the direction indicated by the arrow A so as to be stocked in an original document stacker 4.
In a lower portion of the body 1 is provided a paper feeder section 6. Sheets of recording paper P are lifted upward by a lifting plate 8 so as to be pressed against a pickup roller 9. When a facsimile document is received, the pickup roller 9 rotates and thereby feeds forward one sheet after another of recording paper. These sheets of recording paper are then, one by one, fed between transfer rollers 10 to a recording section 11. In the recording section 11, images are formed on the sheets of recording paper in accordance with the received information. The sheets of recording paper P' having images formed thereon are then fed out in the direction indicated by the arrow B so as to be stocked in a recording paper stacker 12.
FIGS. 18A and 18B show a sectional view as seen from above and a sectional view as seen from the front, respectively, of the paper feeder section 6. As shown in these figures, the sheets of recording paper P are loaded in a paper feed cassette 7. As shown in FIG. 19, replenishment of the sheets of recording paper P is performed with the paper feed cassette 7 pulled out in the direction indicated by the arrow C.
A facsimile machine having a construction as described above requires a space to pull out the paper feed cassette 7 on one side (in the above example, on the right side) of the body 1, and thus the body 1 occupies an accordingly large area. For this reason, as shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B, some commercially available facsimile machines are so designed that the paper feed cassette 7 is pulled out on the front side (in the direction indicated by the arrow D), where a space is secured to allow operation by the user. This helps reduce the area occupied by the body 1.
However, in a facsimile machine having a construction as described just above, the direction in which the paper feed cassette 7 is pulled out is perpendicular to the direction in which the sheets of recording paper are fed to the recording section 11 (see FIG. 17B). As a result, as shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, which are a sectional view as seen from above and a sectional view as seen from the side, respectively, when a paper jam occurs, the sheet of recording paper P"that is causing the jam may interfere with the rear plate 7a of the paper feed cassette 7 and thereby hinder the paper feed cassette 7 from being pulled out. This complicates removal of the sheet of recording paper P" that is causing the jam and thus recovery from the jam.
Moreover, the size of the sheets of recording paper P actually used varies from user to user. For this reason, the paper feed cassette 7 needs to be made so wide as to cope with the longest sheets of recording paper P generally available, and thus also the body 1 of the facsimile machine needs to be made accordingly wide.
For example, as shown in FIG. 20B mentioned previously, even if a user uses only letter-size sheets (having a length L1=279 mm) and A4-size sheets (having a length L2=297 mm), he has no choice but to use a paper feed cassette 7 that is made so wide W1 as to cope with legal-size sheets (having a length L3=356 mm). As a result, also the body 1 of the facsimile machine needs to be made accordingly wide W2, and thus occupies an unnecessarily large area.